Base RWD 2-Dr Convertible V6 auto trans

2014 jaguar f-type Reviews and News

The sound of raindrops on a convertible's cloth top doesn't usually bother me. It's just the reality of summertime driving here in the Midwest. But it's under my skin now, because the rain is coming down fast, and it sounds like a drum kit with a double kick. Worse still, I'm stuck in traffic on Chicago's Eisenhower Expressway in a 2014 Jaguar F-Type S convertible.

Not enough

The 2014 Jaguar F-Type is doing its best to curb my foul mood; its ivory, leather seats are unbelievably comfortable, its cabin's bronze-and-aluminum color scheme looks lovely, and every Wild Belle song coming through its 10-speaker Meridian audio system sounds better than live. None of this matters to the egoist in me, who needs to be seen driving one of the most beautiful convertibles around.

Dipping below

Great, the windows are foggy. There's no chance anyone will see me now. A space in the lane next to me opens up, and I waste no time speeding past small clusters of gridlocked cars, the Jag's traction-control light blinking as I do. I turn off of the highway and onto lower Wacker Drive, a grid of streets that magically sit below street level. The busy roads above provide weather cover, so I creep up to a stoplight, pull a tab to drop the F-Type's top, which goes down almost silently, and wait for green.

Jaguar jazz

With the car's active sport exhaust set to the open position (it's a $220 option, by the way), I mat the accelerator when the light turns. The F-Type's supercharged V-6 engine really barks and it gets attention. At full throttle, the Jaguar V6 buzzes in a metallic way, only in a good way, like a man blowing a beat-up jazz trumpet as hard as he can.

Ego-driven driving

As I accelerate along lower Wacker, the 2014 Jaguar F-Type backfiring with every shift, people stare and take pictures. If I were in a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible or Porsche 911 cabriolet, the sound of raindrops on a cloth top wouldn't bother me. In a 2014 Jaguar F-Type convertible, though, the egoist takes the wheel, and he'll figure out any way to drop the top and be seen. I like the way he thinks.

We might have picked somewhere warmer than northern Wales for the Jaguar F-Type's first meeting with its sports car rivals, but despite the chill of a winter that had overstayed its welcome, this frigid clime did offer some benefits: barren rolling hills; traffic consisting of little more than the postman in the morning and a farmer or two in the afternoon; and mother nature's own special driving stages laid out long before man invented the automobile. Here, three high-performance driving machines gathered for the young season's first roadster shoot-out. In one corner, we have the Audi R8 with the 430-hp V-8 engine and an S tronic automatic transmission. In the other corner is the 400-hp Porsche 911 Carrera S with a seven-speed manual. At center stage is the top-of-the-line, 495-hp Jaguar F-Type V8 S with an eight-speed automatic.

At just over $92,000, the 495-hp F-Type is $11,500 less expensive than the bigger 510-hp XKR convertible. Why is the cheaper, less powerful F-Type just as enchanting as its big brother? Being about 400 pounds lighter, the F-Type is 0.4 second quicker to 60 mph than the older, full-size model, which uses the same engine but is handicapped by a less energetic six-speed automatic transmission. When the next XK arrives, Jaguar will have the opportunity to move the two farther apart, likely by making the larger car more of a proper GT. At Porsche, however, it seems that the gap between the 911 and the Boxster/Cayman has narrowed, particularly with the latest iteration of the mid-engine cars. In a way, Audi suffers from a similar genetic syndrome. After all, the R8 is in essence a reskinned Lamborghini Gallardo. In V-8 form, however, the mid-engine two-seater sits quite comfortably in its own niche, with its price being the only serious downside. Although the $140K Audi is far less expensive than the Gallardo, it costs a massive $47,000 or so more than the Jag, and it even makes the $112,750 Porsche cabrio look like a good value.

The F-Type V8 S is a roadster on steroids. Think of it as a softtop Nissan GT-R without four-wheel drive or as a transformed Ford Shelby GT500 with British papers. The Jag is, in other words, all muscle, and its presence on the road is accordingly aggressive and unrestrained. (Jaguar also makes two less expensive, less intense V-6 F-types, which we've yet to drive.) As we traveled through Wales, our white wedge cut an acoustic swath that made the sheep flock and the birds take flight. Under trailing throttle, the 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 would blat-blat and misfire and burp and implode. When let off the leash, the V-8 weaved the roaring and the thunder into an acoustic train you could almost watch fade away in the rearview mirror. You probably wouldn't want to be identified as the driver of this chariot from hell, but being the devil at the wheel is a whole lot of fun.

The R8 ranks second on the hooligan list. For a start, our test car's testosterone-orange-brown metallic paint triggered dozens of wagging fingers from local residents. The mid-engine mauler is also a victim of its own proportions: 2.5 inches lower than the Jaguar and 3.8 inches wider than the Porsche. Furthermore, it sports the longest wheelbase, the shortest overhangs, and the most extreme two-plus-nothing packaging. Mean-looking even when parked, the R8 proudly displays its exotic proportions and its ground-hugging, wide-body stance, which is even more firmly planted than the front-engine Jaguar and the rear-engine Porsche.

After seven generations, the 911 feels more like a longtime friend than a recent acquaintance. Similar to a charismatic speaker or a talented musician, the Porsche takes only a couple of minutes to cast its spell. Although the 911 looks and feels reassuringly familiar, quite a few aspects are actually fresh and exciting. The seven-speed manual gearbox, for instance, is complex on paper yet 100 percent fail-safe on the road -- pity the ratios were chosen more for fuel mileage than for quickness. The electrically assisted power steering feels light and brisk. The liquid-cooled, direct-injected 3.8-liter flat-six talks with the same snarly chain-saw twang we remember from its air-cooled, 2.2-liter great-grandfather. The rear-engine layout can be wayward and unpredictable, but even more so than its predecessors, the current 911 is a master of grip and traction. In wintry Wales on polished, windswept blacktop, the Porsche was neither a hold-your-breath balancing act like the sometimes fidgety and restless Jaguar nor a who-cares-about-the-weather champ like the R8. Instead, it comfortably covered the middle ground, never too benign to be boring and never too hairy to frighten the wits out of you.

It was always nice to return to the cozy cocoon of the F-Type's cabin, which fits even those who grew taller than most. You sit on well shaped, fully adjustable seats. The pedals are conveniently spaced, visibility is OK despite the tall beltline and the steeply raked A-pillars, and the ergonomics don't require the mind-set of a mechanical engineer. Stability control is either on duty 24-7, in track mode, or off completely. The transmission works well in D, but you can pull the lever to S for more ambitious performance. You can also calibrate engine, transmission, steering, dampers, exhaust, lights, and stability control to your liking, and the car will retain your chosen setup.

Which of the three engines makes our hearts beat fastest? The flat six from Zuffenhausen is the most charismatic, and its soundtrack triggers the most emotional deja vu. It also boasts the best fuel efficiency. But the Porsche doesn't excel against the stopwatch with the seven-speed manual, which simply is not as slick and quick as its rivals' paddle-shifted transmissions -- or its own optional PDK dual-clutch automatic, for that matter. The R8's normally aspirated 4.2-liter V-8 is rev-hungry and acoustically memorable. At 430 hp, which equals a hoarse 7900 rpm, it sits happily between Porsche's 3.8-liter boxer, which dishes up 400 hp at 7400 rpm, and Jaguar's 5.0-liter V-8, which is good for 495 hp at 6500 rpm. Unfortunately, torque is not the R8's strength: it musters only 317 lb-ft from 4500 to 6000 rpm, trailing both the 911 (325 lb-ft at 5600 rpm) and the F-Type (460 lb-ft between 2500 and 5500 rpm). Although its driven wheels are lightly laden, Sir Jag wins the sprint-to-60-mph sweepstakes, coming in at 4.2 seconds against the Audi's 4.4 seconds and the Porsche's 4.5 seconds. Maximum speed is 186 mph across the board.

Fat displacement, oodles of twist action, and eight gears -- that's what swings the drivetrain vote in favor of the newcomer from Britain. True, the old-school mechanical layout results in tail-happy handling and traction issues on slick tarmac, but it can dawdle along in seventh at 2000 rpm and still won't feel underpowered. Plus, you can access at random the mighty midrange punch. Fuel economy is decent, too: better than the Audi but worse than the Porsche. What certainly speaks in favor of the two German powerplants is the fact that they sit above or just aft of the rear axle. For this reason in particular, the rear-wheel-drive 911 is a riveting experience. Quattro all-wheel drive is of course standard on the mid-engine R8, which can be a little more playful than the Porsche. Furthermore, the Audi feels even more firmly planted than the Carrera S. Its cornering attitudes are equally transparent, if slightly less extroverted, and in foul weather it clearly is the most confidence inspiring.

We tried the F-Type with stability control off through a couple of roundabouts and on an open road garnished with two or three hairpins, but then we duly switched back to track mode. When the rain started to fall, all guardian angels were back onboard. Whereas older Jags would virtually drift on the spot, the F-Type hangs on about as long as a Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG or a BMW M3 convertible. When it does eventually let go, it needs quite a bit of room because it tends to slide with all four wheels, hind legs first, fronts following suit. Even though its weight distribution is even more extreme, the Porsche prefers to carve through bends without grand gestures. Unless the radius tightens dramatically, the car's nose will obediently follow the chosen line. It's a tactile tool, this 911, very quick yet surprisingly well balanced, much more user-friendly than its widow-maker reputation. Slightly refreshed for 2014, the R8 still feels a bit long in the tooth. Its cabin is wide but short of legroom, the cockpit looks dated, and the latest driver-assistance systems are conspicuous by their absence. And yet. The steering is quick, precise, and communicative despite the excessive 39-foot turning circle. The chassis blends a compliant ride and superglue roadholding. The brakes fuse bite and balance. Downsides? The limit arrives abruptly, the S tronic keeps confusing itself in automatic mode, and the weight penalty (about 200 pounds versus the F-Type, 600 pounds versus the 911) puts the Audi's exotic aluminum construction into perspective.

All three roadsters are roughly the same size and are quite similar performance-wise. Even their head-turning ability suggests a dead heat. The 911 ticks all the right boxes, but Porsche's Cayman and Boxster siblings have become such tempting alternatives that it is increasingly hard to justify the extra thousands for the more iconic but not necessarily much more competent sports car classic. There is also a certain danger for the Porsche of falling into the been-there, done-that trap. Although resale value and build quality clearly speak in favor of the Carrera S cabriolet, its high base price and costly extras blur the bottom line. Minor irritations include the virtually useless rear seats and the casually arranged switchgear. More of a concern are the little question marks that keep popping up: Is the new electric steering as good as the old hydraulic setup? Do optional systems such as Sport Plus and PASM amplify the car's dynamic abilities too much? Does the latest 911 feel rather pale unless you push it?

Like the Porsche, the R8 makes for a compelling four-seasons car -- except that it has even less storage space behind the seats and holds an even less generous 3.5 cubic feet in the luggage bay, plus it's even harder to see out of. What might really disqualify the Audi for quite a few potential customers are the hefty sticker price, the high fuel bills, and the steep depreciation rate. We used to love the R8 with the clickety-clonk manual gearbox, but that was largely because the R tronic sequential manual suffered from notorious hiccups. Although the new S tronic dual-clutch automatic is much better, it occasionally preselects the wrong ratio, downshifts too early in sport mode, and hangs on to high revs too long. Still an undisputed R8 forte are the optional magnetic dampers that dial in maximum compliance on bumpy roads and reassuring firmness on smooth pavement. Another strong point is the accurate and honest steering, which hasn't yet been infected by electronic assistants and by variable this-or-that add-ons. The engine is bound to be one of the last of its kind: high-revving, normally aspirated, tuned for emotion rather than for efficiency. Its likely replacement, a twin-turbo unit with cylinder deactivation, should be more frugal, but we bet it won't be as vocal or as intense.

Three keys, three cars, three choices. Which one would I take home? If cost were no object: an R8 with the 525-hp V-10 engine. If I could have one built to order and someone else paid for the lease: a 911 with the PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission. However, if it were my own money and if this was to be my only car, it would have to be the F-Type. It feels like the right choice for someone who has the body of a giant, the heart of a chicken, and the mind of a child. The Jaguar is not only the newest car on the block, it also is the most pragmatic option, sporting the biggest trunk and the least offensive price tag. Its supercharged engine is a known quantity and a true gem, the eight-speed automatic guarantees even more joyful paddleshifts per mile, the chassis wears the Entertainment Guild's seal of approval. True, the handling is a bit rough around the edges, and more often than not it takes the considerable help of computers to coax all that torque into traction. But the F-Type looks fresh, its lightweight architecture is modern through and through, and it is composed of the latest materials. Deep within, however, this Jaguar is an old-fashioned driver's car -- just like the E-Type it is supposed to remind us of.

We drove the 2014 Jaguar F-Type last Thursday and Friday in the Navarra region of northeastern Spain. By Friday evening, we were sitting at a dinner table in Normandy at the home of a couple of friends who split their time between Paris and France's northern coast. They know that media previews of new cars often bring us to Europe but don't have the details of this particular trip.

"So, what were you driving in Spain?"

"The new Jaguar F-Type."

"Hmmm. Haven't heard of it. What is it?"

We scroll through the camera roll on our iPhone and hand it over. In the picture, we're standing next to a salsa red F-Type against a backdrop of a rolling green pasture and a field of bright yellow rapeseed.

"Oh!" they say in unison. "They made a sporty car!"

Any doubts we might have had about the claim that the 2014 Jaguar F-Type is "Jaguar's first sports car in 50 years" are thus dispelled, and the company's expectation that some 90% of F-Type buyers will be new to the Jaguar brand is also confirmed. This particular couple, one of whom is an American, has owned all manner of BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and Porsches over the past two decades, although the only British car they've had is a 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. We'd driven their Mercedes CLS diesel up from Paris, and it was sitting in the crunchy French gravel of their drive as we spoke. (They embrace all aspects of French culture except French cars.) In other words, they are exactly the type of customers that Jaguar is hoping to lure away from German brands with the 2014 Jaguar F-Type. As they further examine my iPhone photo, they declare that the new roadster reminds them of the E-Type, which they describe as "the most beautiful car ever made."

Back in the courtyard of the Muga de Beloso Alma Hotel in Pamplona, the city in northeastern Spain that you might recall as the place where Ernest Hemingway fully indulged his passion for bull-fighting, Jaguar had displayed the new F-Type alongside its three single-letter forebears, the C-Type, the D-Type, and the E-Type. A brave move, you might conclude, to put one's 2014 automobile up against three of the most sensuous automotive shapes not just from Jaguar but also of the entire postwar era. We say, if you've got heritage, flaunt it. After all, of the vintage trio, only the E-Type was a true roadgoing car, and there's no denying that the F-Type oozes its own flavor of 21st century sex appeal. We first saw the F-Type's design direction in the C-X16 concept from the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Only through design will Jaguar even get Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche buyers to glance at a Jaguar showroom. Porsche, you ask? Indeed, Jaguar has a bit of a carmaker-crush on Porsche and, like every sports car manufacturer in the world, will be highly flattered by any comparisons made to the products from Zuffenhausen. To drive home the point, Jaguar representatives continually remind us that every version of the F-Type will cost about 25% less than comparable Porsche 911 models.

If you're inviting comparisons with Porsche, you'd better have the hardware to back up your claims, and Jaguar has the right kind of numbers on the F-Type spec sheet. The $69,895 F-Type gets a 340-hp version of Jaguar's own supercharged, 3.0-liter V-6 engine, while the $81,895 F-Type S bumps the V-6 to 380 hp. The $92,895 F-Type V8 S boasts 495 hp. Jaguar cites 0-to-60-mph times of 5.1 seconds, 4.8 seconds, and 4.2 seconds, respectively, for the three models. There's a similar progression in the electronically limited top speeds: even the base model is good for 161 mph, the S for 171 mph, and the top dog for 186 mph.

All models are mated to ZF's eight-speed automatic transmission, which Jaguar calls Quickshift. You might be tempted to dis Jaguar for the lack of a manual gearbox but, then again, the upcoming Porsche 911 GT3 won't have one, either. And if Jaguar were to offer one, virtually no one would buy it. Still, it's always sad to see a sports car model line with no clutch pedal in sight.

Aside from the obvious powertrain development, the F-Type program "required a fundamental shift in Jaguar DNA," says Ian Hoban, who's been with the automaker for 23 years and now serves as vehicle line director for all its products. The catchphrase he and his team use, "Connected Feel," describes their attempts to imbue the F-Type with "immediate, precise, and proportional response to all driver inputs." To that end, the F-Type has 10% faster steering than any other Jaguar, the lightest and stiffest body structure of any Jaguar, and an aggressively tuned version of Jaguar's Adaptive Dynamics damping system. The V6 S is fitted with a mechanical limited-slip differential, while the V8 S gets an electronically controlled version that uses a multi-plate clutch to send torque to the rear wheel with the most grip.

Like the XJ and XK, the F-Type has a bonded-and-riveted aluminum body structure cloaked in aluminum body panels. (The trunk lid is composite.) The structure, which consists of 141 aluminum pressings, 18 high-pressure die castings, and 24 extrusions, is some 77 lb lighter than a comparable steel structure. Jaguar engineers are particularly proud of the single stamping of the clamshell hood because of the crisp folds they were able to create, which made the design team happy.

Climb behind the wheel of the F-Type, and there's definitely an immediate sense that you're in a different sort of Jaguar. You sit nearly an inch lower than in Jaguar's previous sportiest car, the XKR-S coupe. The cabin is modern and luxurious but not affected, with a row of substantial rocker switches and big twist dials for climate control, a nicely stitched grab handle that delineates the driver's space from the passenger's, a chunky gearshift lever that is the antithesis of the fussy old Jaguar J-gate shifter, and a small and simple steering wheel (three versions of the steering wheel are available, including a flat-bottomed one and one with Alcantara). In S models, the Dynamic Mode button, the shift paddles, and the start button are accented in orange. Fit and finish are very good. A set of vents at the top of the center stack rises when the climate control system dictates they are needed and otherwise disappear into the dash. Jaguar always concocts at least one parlor trick for its cabins these days, it seems.

Our test cars were fitted with optional fully power-adjustable seats, but base seats have manual fore-and-aft movement to save weight. Jaguar considered something akin to Mercedes-Benz's Airscarf to blow warm air on your neck but rejected it due to packaging concerns. This is not a particularly big cabin. People over 6'2" or 6'3" might find legroom lacking. You're on intimate terms with your passenger, but there's still a substantial amount of instrument panel between you and the windshield. The F-Type feels good from the passenger's seat. You feel like you're part of the car even though you don't have the steering wheel in your hands, and the door handle and grab bar are ideal for bracing yourself for g-forces.

The fabric top goes down in only 12 seconds at speeds of up to 30 mph and folds neatly behind the seats. The trunk is shallow, oddly shaped, and small, with only 7.0 cubic feet of space. It's not for golf clubs, but if you're a golfer, Jaguar will point you to the XK.

Within the first few miles, you'll notice the F-Type's stiff body structure, for sure, as there's virtually no cowl shake or undue bending or flexing. You'll also realize that this is still a relatively heavy car. Curb weights range from 3521 lb for the V6 to 3671 lb for the V8 S, so you understand why Jaguar engineers were obliged to provide a lot of power under the hood.

Even the base V6 is more than sufficient thanks in part to the Quickshift transmission, which disconnects the torque converter once you're in second gear to create a direct mechanical connection between the engine and the rear wheels. To shift manually, either nudge the gearshift lever into its left gate and pull it back for upshifts and shove it forward for downshifts. Or, our preference, use the shift paddles. Hit the Dynamic Mode switch on the center console, confirmed by a checkered flag in the driver's display cluster, and the transmission will hold on to gears at redline and automatically blip the throttle during downshifts.

You'll want to blip the throttle yourself nonstop to take full advantage of the Active Exhaust system (optional on V6, standard on V6 S and V8 S), which opens bypass valves in the exhaust under hard acceleration. The sweet mechanical music that follows, especially the crackle and pop when you lift off the gas, are worthy of an Italian supercar. V6 models have twin center exhaust outlets, in a nod to the E-Type, while the V8 has quad outlets, two at each corner.

The F-Type's steering is relatively light yet very precise, with good feel, even if it's not as hyper-communicative as, say, the Porsche Boxster's. At the Circuito de Navarra, a racetrack set into stunning landscape in the foothills south of Pamplona, it was easy to direct an F-Type S into tight corners, and the brakes, with excellent pedal modulation and pressure, were ready for track duty. The gearbox responded quickly to slaps of the shift paddles, especially when multiple downshifts were required. Stability control wasn't overly intrusive during a few brief laps of the circuit with a British driving instructor named Chris riding shotgun. Chris did not offer to let us drive with stability turned off, but the F-Type feels like it would willingly rotate if he had.

The diameters of both the wheels and the brake rotors ascend as you move up through the F-Type model hierarchy. The F-Type gets 18-inch wheels and 14-inch front rotors; the F-Type S gets 19-inch wheels and 15-inch front rotors; and the F-Type V8 S has 20-inch wheels and 15-inch front, 14.8-inch rear rotors, the largest set of brakes Jaguar has ever fitted as standard to a production car. Both of the V6 models can be spec'd up with bigger footwear with the usual portfolio of attractive Jaguar wheels.

As composed and fun as the two V6 models are, it's the V8 S that has the visceral nature that gives real credence to Jaguar's "sports car" claim. It's a different beast altogether, with far more character and personality and verve, and Jaguar expects it to comprise half of all U.S. sales. On the second day of the media program, we drove it on a loop northeast of Pamplona through fantastically scenic mountain roads snaking along a series of rivers bursting with spring snow melt, top down despite the 38-degree morning chill, and the F-Type had all the right moves and made all the right sounds. Grip, even in tight corners on wet roads, was excellent, and the car was flat and composed without ride harshness. It was pretty great.

The Jaguar E-Type is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Its modern-day successor, the 2014 Jaguar F-Type, is easy on the eyes as well, and in the latest episode of World’s Greatest Car Show, host Justin Bell drives both of these British roadsters back to back.

The 2014 Jaguar F-Type is the first serious sports car from Jaguar in the last 50 years. Really, that's all you need to know to understand why this convertible made it to the final round of Automobile of the Year deliberations. But let's dig a little deeper.

Chances are you’ve probably heard plenty about the 2014 Jaguar F-Type, the brand’s first true sports car in recent memory. In this week’s episode of Ignition, host Carlos Lago takes this Jaguar out on the track and the street to experience the sights and sounds of the shapely British sports car with an exhaust note to remember.

In a twist of irony, Jaguar Land Rover, the unit spun off from Ford Motor Company in 2008 as being an unprofitable burden to Alan Mulally's restructuring efforts, is now accounting for most of parent Tata motor's profits for this quarter. Tata's second-quarter net income increase of 71 percent to $564 million can be largely attributed to the success of the JLR unit. Jaguar Land Rover quarterly profits of $815 million were up 66 percent for the quarter, Bloomberg reports.

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Sound & Entertainment

Warranty

Recalls

Recall Date

12-31-1969:21:35:41

Component

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING

Summary

Jaguar Land Rover North America LLC (Jaguar) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 F-TYPE vehicles manufactured August 31, 2012, to October 22, 2014. In the affected vehicles the seatbelt harness connector which connects the Seatbelt Tension Sensor (STS) to the Occupant Classification Sensor Control Module (OCSCM) may not have been correctly wired. The OCSCM senses whether there is an occupant in the front passenger seating position, and the STS senses whether tension on the seatbelt indicates a child restraint is being used in the front passenger seating position. Both sensors provide information to the restraint control module (RCM) which informs whether the front passenger airbag should be activated, depending on whether the sensors detect the seat is occupied and/or that it is occupied by an adult passenger.

Consequences

Should the STS not have been wired correctly, the front passenger air bag may not be suppressed, and may remain activated, even when a child restraint is placed in the front passenger seat or a small statured adult occupies that seat. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the front passenger air bag, a child or small stature occupant may be at an increased risk of injury.

Remedy

Jaguar will notify owners, and dealers will correct the harness connector wire configuration, free of charge. The recall began on December 3, 2014. Owners may contact Jaguar customer service at 1-800-452-4827. Jaguar's number for this recall is J047.